Destiny Among the Stars - Scifi - LitRPG - Adventure

The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.

― John Schaar

The mess hall thrummed with the steady pulse of the FTL drive, a vibration that seemed to live in Luca's bones now. Three weeks into their impossible journey, and he still felt that faint tremor in his fingertips whenever he touched the metal table. The long steel surface stretched before him, its surface reflecting the overhead lights in wavering lines that shifted with each micro-oscillation of the ship's hull. The easy camaraderie from the senior briefing felt more distant now, replaced by the weight of addressing his entire crew.

The team filtered in one by one, tablets and laptops clutched against their chests like armor. Ryan dropped into his usual seat with his characteristic gracelessness, immediately pulling up diagnostics on his device while muttering something about power distribution curves. Danny followed, his red hair still damp from what looked like a hasty shower, freckles standing out against his pale skin as he settled into the chair across from Chris. The bigger man nodded to Danny with his usual quiet intensity, his own tablet already displaying what looked like tactical assessments.

Emily slid into the seat to Luca's right, her blonde hair catching the artificial light as she powered up her device. She'd shifted back into full professional mode since their earlier meeting had ended, but Luca caught the small smile she gave him as she sat down, a private moment that felt like a shared secret.

Zoe arrived last, her dark skin gleaming under the mess hall lights, dreadlocks swaying as she moved with that fluid confidence that made her seem like she belonged anywhere, even hurtling through hyperspace. She claimed the seat beside Danny, close enough that their shoulders almost touched, and Luca caught the way Danny's posture straightened slightly at her proximity.

Joey appeared from the galley, wiping his hands on a towel before joining them. His red hair was pulled back in its usual ponytail, and there was flour on his sleeve that suggested he'd been cooking up a storm. The smell of something warm and yeasty followed him. Maybe donuts. Space Donuts. That would make sense.

"Alright," Luca said, standing and placing his palms flat on the table's surface. The metal was warm under his hands, heated by the ship's internal systems and the constant vibration of their reality-bending journey. "We've covered the big picture, but now it's time for everyone to understand exactly what we're walking into."

"We all know what we're really here for the System caps Earth at level 60, and this is our shot to break that ceiling." Luca started. "But none of that happens if we screw up the charter. The IFC is watching. The Genesis Platform's reputation is riding on this mission. And let's not forget, this ship wasn't free. We're paying for it with data. Survey results. Deliverables. So if we want to do this, if we want to go back into those portals and level up… we need to get this survey done. Fast, clean, and by the book."

He tapped his laptop, and the main projected screen flickered to life, showing a hastily prepared power-point slide with a long list of their survey equipment in too small a font. Probes, satellites, telescopes, dozens of devices that would need to function perfectly in an alien star system. "Primary objective is a complete inventory of all survey equipment. Every probe, every deployable satellite, every sensor package. We need to know what we have, what condition it's in, and whether anyone's been messing with our gear."

"The window for data collection is going to be tight," he continued, pulling up deployment schedules. "We have just over three months, but Alpha Centauri is an enormous star system. If we discover any planets with an atmosphere or within the habitable zone, we'll need to land, which will take time away from our survey work. That's why we need to be ready. We get in, deploy everything we can, collect as much data as possible, and get out."

Danny looked like he was doing calculations in his head, and from his expression, the results weren't good. "Luca, there's still a lot of calibration work pending on the different telescopes and satellites. The optical arrays alone are going to need at least three or four days of fine-tuning, and that's assuming we don't run into any hardware issues."

Luca nodded. "That's fine," he said. "You can handle it. Better to know what we're dealing with now than to find out we're flying blind when we arrive."

He gestured to the presentation, highlighting different sections in blue and red. "I'm dividing us into teams. Joey, Chris, and Zoe. You're handling the hangar and storage bays. Those are our big-ticket items, satellites, the Peregrine, the Percival, and long-range probes. Danny and Ryan, you're on the science labs. All the precision instruments, the sensitive equipment that needs to be handled with kid gloves."

Ryan grinned as he leaned forward. "Define 'kid gloves' when you're talking about quantum resonance scanners and gravity wave detectors."

"The kind that don't involve you taking things apart just to see how they work," Emily said dryly, earning a snort from Chris.

"Hey, I haven't broken anything important in at least a day," Ryan protested.

Luca felt some of the tension in his shoulders ease. This was good – the crew was focused but not paralyzed by the magnitude of their task. "Everything has to be catalogued," he said, his voice carrying the weight of command. "Model numbers, serial numbers, condition assessments, calibration status. I want to know if a screw is loose or if someone's been tampering with the firmware."

The room fell quiet except for the omnipresent hum of the FTL drive. Luca could see the wheels turning in everyone's heads, the mental calculations of time and effort required. It was a massive undertaking, made more complex by the fact that they were working with equipment designed by teams they'd never met, using specifications that had been hastily transferred before their communications went dark.

"Once we hit Alpha Centauri," Luca continued, "we've got a very short window to survey the star system."

Danny was scribbling notes on his screen. "The automated sequences will help, but we're still going to need manual oversight for the critical deployments. If something goes wrong with the primary telescope satellites..."

"Then we fix it," Luca said simply. "Whatever it takes. We didn't come this far to half-ass the science."

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He looked around the table, meeting each of their eyes in turn. Emily's gaze was steady, professional, but there was something else there, a flicker of the woman who'd stood beside him in the observation lounge, who'd leaned into his shoulder as they watched the hyperspace storm.

Ryan was already diving into technical specifications, his mind racing ahead to potential problems and solutions. Danny looked nervous but determined, the weight of his scientific responsibilities clear on his young face. Zoe's brow was furrowed, and it looked like she was already three steps ahead, planning contingencies for contingencies.

Chris and Joey were harder to read, but they'd be alright.

"Questions?" Luca asked.

The silence stretched for a moment.

He powered down the display, the schematic fading to black. "Let's get to work. We've got three weeks to turn this ship into the most sophisticated survey platform in human history."

The scrape of chairs against metal deck plating filled the mess hall as the crew dispersed, tablets and laptops tucked under arms, voices already shifting to work mode. The sounds of their conversation faded as they moved through the ship's corridors, leaving behind only the steady thrum of the FTL drive.

Luca remained standing at the head of the table, his hands still resting on the warm metal surface. Emily hadn't moved from her seat, her green eyes focused on her tablet screen as she scrolled through inventory lists. The sudden quiet felt charged, like the moment before lightning strikes.

"Deployment schedules," Emily said without looking up. "We need to prioritize the automated sequences."

Luca lowered himself back into his chair, close enough that he could smell her shampoo – something light and floral that reminded him of spring mornings back on Earth. "What are you thinking?"

She turned her tablet toward him, and he leaned in to see the screen. The proximity was electric, her shoulder brushing against his as she pointed to different sections of the deployment timeline. "The gravitational wave detectors are the most sensitive to initial conditions. If we can get them deployed and calibrated early, they can run autonomous surveys while we focus on the visual spectrum work."

Her finger traced across the screen, and Luca found himself watching the movement more than the data. "The optical arrays are going to need constant babysitting," she continued. "Danny's going to be pulling long shifts just to keep them aligned."

"He can handle it," Luca said, though his voice came out rougher than intended. Kid's got more patience for technical details than the rest of us combined.

Emily finally looked up from the tablet, and their faces were closer than he'd realized. Her eyes were bright, alert, but there was something else there – a warmth that made his pulse quicken. "What about you? Think you can handle three months of being cooped up in this tin can with all of us?"

The question was light, teasing, but there was an undercurrent that suggested she wasn't just talking about the crew in general. Luca felt his mouth go dry. "I think I can manage," he said, his voice quieter now. "The company's not terrible."

Emily's lips curved in a small smile, and she shifted in her chair, angling toward him. "Not terrible? That's high praise from our fearless captain."

The flirtation was gentle, familiar, but it carried more weight now. Without Pierre as a barrier between them, every interaction felt more significant, more loaded with possibility. Luca found himself leaning closer, drawn by the way the mess hall lighting caught the gold in her hair, the way her eyes seemed to hold secrets he wanted to discover.

"I aim to please," he said, and immediately winced at how that sounded. Emily laughed, a genuine sound that made his chest tighten with something that might have been hope.

"Do you now?" she asked, and there was definitely mischief in her voice. Her foot moved under the table, and Luca felt the soft pressure of her bare toes against his calf. The touch was light, almost tentative, but it sent electricity shooting up his leg and straight to his brain.

He almost knocked over his tablet trying not to react visibly, but Emily's smile suggested she'd noticed his surprise. Her foot stayed where it was, warm pressure through the fabric of his uniform pants, and Luca found himself holding his breath.

"Emily," he said, not sure what he was going to say, but knowing he needed to say something.

"What?" she asked innocently, but her foot was moving now, a gentle stroke that made his pulse hammer against his throat. "I'm just reviewing deployment schedules. Very important XO business."

"You're going to be the death of me," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"That's the plan," she said.

The mess hall door hissed open with a sharp pneumatic sound that made them both jump. Emily's foot disappeared from his leg so quickly that Luca wondered if he'd imagined the whole thing, but the lingering heat on his skin suggested otherwise. Zoe burst through the doorway, her face lit up with triumphant excitement, a bottle of amber liquid held high above her head like a trophy.

"Found our alcohol stash!" she announced, her voice carrying the particular satisfaction of someone who'd just solved a puzzle. The bottle caught the overhead lights, refracting them in warm golden patterns across the mess hall walls.

The spell between Luca and Emily shattered like glass. Emily leaned back in her chair, but Luca caught the slight flush on her cheeks that suggested she was as affected as he was. He tried to look casual, but his hands were still trembling slightly as he reached for his tablet.

The rest of the crew filtered back in behind Zoe, drawn by her announcement and the promise of celebration. Ryan appeared in the doorway, his eyes immediately locking onto the bottle in Zoe's hand. "Please tell me that's not cooking sherry."

"Single malt Scotch," Zoe said proudly, setting the bottle on the table with a solid thunk. "Eighteen years old and apparently Joey's personal stash, judging by where I found it."

Joey's face went red, his freckles standing out like stars against his pale skin. "That was supposed to be for special occasions," he protested, but there was no real anger in his voice.

"What's more special than humanity's first interstellar voyage?" Chris asked, his voice carrying that dry humor that suggested he was amused by Joey's embarrassment.

"This," said Luca, clearing his throat and standing up. "Is exactly why we need rules." He forced himself to focus on the crew around him. "Alcohol is only permitted in the lounge. No exceptions. And only if someone sponsors the night with their personal stash."

"Supply is limited, to what each of us brought," Luca continued, his voice carrying the weight of command. "But if you chose to sponsor a party or celebration, it's your drinks that are shared out. And absolutely no drinking during work hours or outside the lounge. The inventory work starts first thing tomorrow, and I need everyone sharp."

Zoe nodded, her expression shifting from celebration to understanding. "Fair enough. We're not exactly in a position to call for backup if someone gets stupid."

"The lounge does need a proper christening," Joey said, his earlier embarrassment giving way to enthusiasm. "Once we get the inventory work sorted, maybe we could have a proper crew night. Toast to making it this far."

Emily looked up from her tablet. "That actually sounds nice. It's been nothing but crisis management since we left Genesis. A few hours to actually enjoy what we've accomplished might be good for morale."

Luca caught her eye and saw something there, a promise, maybe, or a continuation of what had been interrupted. The thought sent another wave of heat through him, but he forced himself to stay focused on the crew.

"Once inventory is complete," he agreed. "We earn our celebration first."

The crew began to disperse again, this time with a different energy. There was anticipation in their movements, a sense of something to look forward to beyond the endless technical challenges. Zoe tucked the bottle under her arm like a precious artifact, while Joey was already planning what he called "appropriate celebration donuts."

Emily remained.

She leaned back against her chair, arms crossed, studying him with that calculating look he'd come to both dread and crave.

Slowly, deliberately...

She raised one perfect eyebrow.

The gesture sent heat racing through his veins.

His mouth went dry. "Emily, I—"

She opened her mouth to speak.